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Dorothy Dunnett

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Misfit
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Posts: 9581
Joined: August 2008
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Misfit » Mon November 5th, 2012, 5:20 pm

This is pathetic, but I spotted an edition I'd not seen before at last weekend's library sale(s). Had to buy it just to get the cover scanned.

Image
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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Margaret
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Posts: 2440
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
Location: Catskill, New York, USA
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Post by Margaret » Tue November 6th, 2012, 5:46 pm

What a gorgeous cover, though! Glad you spotted it, nabbed it, and shared.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

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Misfit
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Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Misfit » Tue November 6th, 2012, 7:09 pm

It would be fun to find covers for the rest of this series by this publisher. I think it was a UK edition.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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Margaret
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 2440
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
Location: Catskill, New York, USA
Contact:

Re: Dorothy Dunnett

Post by Margaret » Tue May 24th, 2016, 2:43 am

This month, after it was strongly recommended to me by many, many people over the years, I finally started and finished The Lymond Chronicles. What a fabulous series of novels! It would be fun to discuss these with others who have read the whole series. Any interest in a section for this that allows spoilers?
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

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Madeleine
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Posts: 5860
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: "Mania" by L J Ross
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Re: Dorothy Dunnett

Post by Madeleine » Tue May 24th, 2016, 2:55 pm

There are a few reviews of the first 2 books in the Reviews by Members section on this forum, with an A-Z of authors reviewed.
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

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MLE (Emily Cotton)
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Posts: 3566
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Re: Dorothy Dunnett

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Tue May 24th, 2016, 8:13 pm

Margaret wrote:This month, after it was strongly recommended to me by many, many people over the years, I finally started and finished The Lymond Chronicles. What a fabulous series of novels! It would be fun to discuss these with others who have read the whole series. Any interest in a section for this that allows spoilers?
Actually, I'd love to discuss them. I chewed through the first part of GoK only because I had an ulterior motive, but would not have gotten beyond page 50 otherwise. Then somewhere in the middle, I got hooked, and read through the series in a month, enjoying myself immensely.

And then came the after-taste. I stepped away from the emotion, and started looking at the logic of the character choices, and the more I thought about it, the more the whole thing started to crumble. Which actually made me a little mad, because I had so much fun reading them, I WANTED to be able to go over things later.

What remains are the questions, like, for Pawn in Frankincense:
Or for Checkmate:
Or more generally, his brother Richard flip-flops on Lymond so often my head spins. He's either episodically amnesiac or a flaming idiot, in between being functional.

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Re: Dorothy Dunnett

Post by SGM » Wed May 25th, 2016, 2:41 pm

Somewhere online you will find what looks like a dissertation from someone at (I think) Sheffield Hallam University which comes up with some interesting ideas about where the Lymond Chronicles move into the realm of fantasy fiction rather than historical fiction which is fun to read. Just google Dorothy Dunnett and you will eventually find it. There are also some forums dedicated to the works of Dunnett. There is much discussion about which of the two children is actually Lymond's son, some of which are quite convincingly in favour of Kuzum (despite what Dunnett said herself). All of which are very enjoyable with a pinch of salt but be strong, you can lose an awful lot of time on it.
Currently reading - Emergence of a Nation State by Alan Smith

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MLE (Emily Cotton)
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3566
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Re: Dorothy Dunnett

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Wed May 25th, 2016, 4:09 pm

Actually, as someone who has worked with people coming out of addiction/alcoholism, I can make a very good guess at where Dunnett was on her personal journey in and out of that by following what she writes about Francis' struggle at the moment. I mentioned it to somebody who knew her at a convention once, and he told me that she did, indeed, struggle with getting onto and falling off 'the wagon'.

I also enjoy her use of animals to drive her plots, but she does push that into something of fantasy--for instance, an ostrich is not nearly as huge as the one Niccolo rides through town at the end of the first book in that series. Yes, there are ostrich races, but no, the jockeys are not the size of her character.

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Margaret
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 2440
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
Location: Catskill, New York, USA
Contact:

Re: Dorothy Dunnett

Post by Margaret » Sat May 28th, 2016, 4:05 am

I read them so fast - and only once so far - that it was easy for me to suspend disbelief, but yes, there are more than a few stretchers. In regard to MLE Spoiler #1:
In regard to Spoiler #2:
I, too, found the first book slow going in many sections, because it was hard to follow the incredible complexity of the plot. But there was so much about the novel I found captivating, I didn't want to put it down. From Queen's Play on, I found it easier to follow - except when Dunnett deliberately pulls the wool over our eyes.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

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MLE (Emily Cotton)
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3566
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Re: Dorothy Dunnett

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Sat May 28th, 2016, 5:48 am

I think as regards Lymond's amorous activities, one of the (implied usual) cures for his blinding migraines, as suggested by his men, is 'a woman'. Which strikes me as very strange, because I can't imagine a man being sexually functional--or even remotely interested in sex--during a migraine!

I did go look that bit up, and found that temporary blindness can be a symptom of migraines. But it occurs in only one eye, and rarely lasts for more than an hour.

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